Lazaee weillee



- UNITED STATES- PATENT ()FFICE.

LAZABE WEILLER, ANGOULEME, FRANCE.

ALLOYS FOR AND PROCESS. OF THE MANUFACTURE OF SILICIOUS COPPER AND SIUCIOUS BRONZE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 293,827, dated February 19, 1884. Application filed June 28; 1983. (No spzcimens.) Patented in France October 31, 1882, No. 151,846; in England November 7, 1882,

No. 5,316, and in Italy December 14, 1882' Processes of the Manufacture of Silicious Copper and Silicious Bronze, also the preparation of certain compounds suitable to be employed in such manufacture, of which the followin specification is a full description.

This invention relates to the manufacture of silicious copper or silicious bronze or silicious alloys of copper, which are particularly suited for making electric conducting-wires, as well as wires for other purposes, machinery or parts of machinery, and guns. 7

In the specification of former Letters Patent granted to me, and dated -May 8, 1883, No.

277,089, I described an economical process of manufacturing silicious copper and silicious bronze on a commercial scale. The said process has been found to give good results.

The present invention relates, however, to

substituting in certain cases for the materials used in that process for producing the sodium necessary during the operationan amount of sodium, meaning thereby the metallic base of soda combined with tin, or with tin and copper when it is required to make silicious bronze. In this-way there can be obtained on a commercial scale so much. as twelve per cent. of silicium in an alloy by causing one part of sodium combined with tin, or with tin and copper, to act upon two and a half 'to four parts of fluosilicate of potash introduced directly into the alloy.

In the new process of making silicious bronze a previous combination of tin with sodium is made, and this combination I call sodium tin, and when I wish to add copper I mix sodium tin therewith, and the compound thus formed I call sodium bronze. The present invention thus comprises the manufacture of these compounds for the purpose of subsequently forming a combination of siliciumwith them,

or one of them, in the presence of or by means of fluosilicate of potash when melted with copper or bronze to form the required silicious alloys. The said compound sodium tin is made by first melting the tin in a crucible and stirvery gradually added thereto. The compound thus made maythen be allowed to cool and i may be kept for use as. required.

In order to make sodium bronze. I add to ring the molten metal while the sodium is melted copper the desired proportion of sodium tin. Instead of forming these compounds previously, the process of manufacturing silicious bronze may be modified by making a direct mixture of the metals which would form the silicious bronze. Tin and sodium with the desired amount of fluosilicate of potash would then be introduced into the melted copper or bronze; or, if the bronze already contained sufficient tin, only the sodium and fluosilicate would be introduced. In like manner, if it is desired to make silicious copper, the sodium is introduced with fluosilicate of potash into the melted copper. In all cases where sodium is used uncombined with tin it must be introduced very gradually into the melted metal. The fluosilicate should be introduced first, then the sodium, and lastly the tin, when this is to be added.

.When a larger amount of sodium is required than can be conveniently combined. with the tin-to be employed in the alloy, sodium in an uncombined state can be used in conjunction with the sodium tin or sodium bronze, the sodium and the sodium tin or sodium bronze being introduced with fluosilicate of potash into the melted copper or bronze. The new process is,

therefore, complementary to the process described in my said former patent. It enables me to obtain not only wires adapted for use in connection with telegraphs, telephones, and the conduction of electricity generally, but also wire for other purposes, and also to manufacture machinery or parts of machinery, and guns which will offer great resistance to friction, blows, strain, and other molecular disturbance.

For the manufacture of the compound sodium tin, I generally employ from-five to thirty parts of sodium to one hundred parts of tin. For the manufacture of sodium bronze, I gen-' erally use an amount of sodium'tin which will give an amount of tin equal to about.10 to fifteen per cent. of the copper.

For the manufacture of silicious copper or silieious bronze, the quantity of fluosilioate of potash which should be used to causethe combination of the silicium with the sodium is about two and one-half to four times the weight 5 of sodium employed, whether such sodium be introduced into the melted copper or bronze in a separate state, or (for the manufacture of silieious bronze) it be combined with tin in the form which I call sodium tin, or with tin and copper in the form of sodium bronze. The materials thus added to the melted copper or bronze react'in the midst of the mass during the fusion of the alloy, and by this process it is easy to get a considerable quantity of silieium alloyed or mixed with the metal.

For the manufactureof silieious bronze the proportion of the tin may be considerably varied, from, say, about .10 to fifteen per cent. of the copper, and for the manufacture of silieious to copper and bronze the proportion of silicium added thereto may be varied from, say, about .05 to twelve per cent.

In order to obtain twelve percent. of silieium in the alloy, I employ about three parts of :5 iluosilicate of potash to ten parts of copper.

A smaller quantity of the fluosilieate will give a proportionately smaller percentage of silieium in thealloy.

The sodium compounds hereinbefore de- ,0 scribed, and which I call sodium tin and sodium bronze, although specially intended for use in the manufacture of silieious bronze in the manner explained, may also be used for other purposes.

Heretofore Loewig has alloyed tin with sodi- 3 5 um for use in experiments with iodide of ethyl. I do not wish to be understood to claim such composition.

I am not aware that any alloy of sodium and bronze has been made for any purpose.

I therefore claim- 1. Sodium bronze as a new composition of matter.

2. The method of making silieious copper or bronze by introducing sodium or sodium 5 alloy and'a decomposable compound of silieiunr-su'ch as fluosilicate of potash-into melted copper or bronze, substantially as described.

3. In the manufacture of silieious eopperor bronze, the improvement consisting in alloying the sodium with tin or bronze and afterward using the said alloy in the said manufac ture, substantially as described.

4-. In the manufacture of silieious bronze, the improvement consisting in adding tin and sodium together with fluosilicate of potash to the melted copper or bronze, substantially as described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LAZARE \VEILLER.

\Vitnesses:

HENRY TWARE, EDXVARD P. )IoLnAN. 

